STUDY FINDS MORTGAGE IMBALANCE

Stanley ZiembaCHICAGO TRIBUNE

While the number of housing loans made in Chicago declined slightly during 1988, most of the loans made went, as usual, to home buyers on the North, Far Northwest and Far Southwest Sides, according to a study released Tuesday.

For the fifth consecutive year, the Lincoln Park neighborhood ranked first in the city in loans obtained, receiving a total of 1,575 loans with a total value of almost $250 million, according to the annual study conducted by the not-for-profit Woodstock Institute.

By contrast, the Fuller Park neighborhood just south of Comiskey Park on the South Side, ranked last for the third straight year, receiving only 18 loans with a total value of only $144,000, according to the report, the 1988 Community Lending Fact Book.

The report underscores what neighborhood activists, housing officials and financial institutions have known for years: Most of the housing loans made in the city by banks, savings and loans and mortgage firms go to predominantly white, middle-class neighborhoods. Poor black and Hispanic neighborhoods receive little in private-sector housing support. This pattern hasn`t changed much since the Woodstock Institute began conducting its housing loan survey five years ago.

The Woodstock report, however, is not intended to be an indictment of financial institutions, according to Jean Pogge, president of the Chicago-based institute.

Instead, it is intended to be ''a practical tool for community organizations seeking to encourage investment in their neighborhoods,'' she said.

Because the book lists the extent of each lending institution`s activity in each of the city`s 77 neighborhoods, it can be used by financial institutions and government regulators to determine where banks, savings and loans and mortgage firms need to do a better job of providing financing, Pogge said.

''As both the city and state treasurers consider using reinvestment as criteria for deposits, the Fact Book will be helpful in identifying depository institutions actively lending in all Chicago neighborhoods.''

The Woodstock report counted 28,041 home loans totaling nearly $2 billion made in Chicago in 1988, down slightly from 33,090 loans with a total value of nearly $2.1 billion in 1987. The bulk of the loans-59 percent-were for homes of one to four units.

The study showed that the Lincoln Park neighborhood received $20 million more in loans in 1988 than it did in 1987. The total obtained by Fuller Park, meanwhile, fell substantially from 1987.